iMix: Ten Day Challenge
by tessellate
Summary: Fic 5! Freddie and Carly have a conversation in the rain! A series of ten songfics, featuring Seddie, Creddie, Cam, platonic Fencer, Motion City Soundtrack, Sea Wolf, The Secret Handshake, Ingrid Michelson and Shiny Toy Guns.
1. Ghost Town

**-ghost town-sam/freddie-futurefic-t for swearing-**

_hold me back, you know we're never gonna back down_

"No! Fucking- don't act like you're so much better than me!" Sam spat, taking a step away from her boyfriend.

Freddie rolled his eyes and stepped forward, "Sam, calm-"

"No, fuck you!" she yelled. "You talk down at me, and act all like I'm this awful person for having a bad fucking day, like you've never had one in your life!"

Freddie bit his lip, "Sam, listen to yourself, you're-"

"What? I'm what, Freddie? Not perfect? Not some quiet little girlfriend that never makes a mistake and is never tired and-"

Freddie looked at Sam evenly. "You're wrong, Sam." he said quietly, "I was going to say that you're wrong."

Sam shook her head, "Freddie, you know what? Maybe _you're_ wrong for once, huh? Ever thought of that? Maybe if you stopped thinking about what you can say to make me look bad for once, you could-"

Freddie's eyes flashed. "Are you fucking serious?" he said loudly. Sam was silent; after all, Freddie usually knew better than to yell. "Why the fuck are you so bent on convincing yourself that I'm trying to hurt you? Okay, you're tired; you're having a bad day, but still..."

Sam crossed her arms, stubborn. "Yeah, I should _still_ be the perfect girl."

Freddie threw his hands in the air, "NO! I'm _still_ your boyfriend! Yes, I say stupid shit, and I'm sorry for that, I really am, but, _fuck!_ I'm not going to bring up something out of nowhere to hurt you, or make you look stupid, and I can't for the life of me figure out why you think I would!"

Sam was speechless, but she didn't uncross her arms.

Freddie ran his hands through his hair. "Sam, I fucking love you," he said quietly. "And I know you're not always up for my stupid shit, cause I can be a hell of a stupid shit, but please. I'm not out to hurt you, okay?"

Sam stared at the ground, arms still crossed. She didn't want to look up, not just yet. "Fine." she said to the floor, "But just don't be such a dick, okay?" She looked up just in time to see Freddie's apologetic smile, and couldn't help but break out with a tiny one of her own. She walked over to Freddie, who was holding out an arm to put around her shoulder.

He nodded, and when they hugged he couldn't help smiling over her head.

_we don't want to, we don't have to live like that._

{a/n: this is inspired by ghost town by shiny toy guns. it feels like a fighting song, no? and this is really an ~interpret yourself~ kind of thing, but reading back, i imagined freddie taking sam out to show her off to the av club, in which jokes about white balance may or may not have been made, that sam may or may not have understood. chaos, of course, ensuing. drop a review and tell me what you saw!}


	2. I Lied About Everything

**-i lied about everything-carly/freddie-carly/sam-sam/freddie-t for kissing-**

_and no, she doesn't know the dates, _

_she'd never know the weight, _

_and i'd really like to see you one last time_

Carly sat back on the couch in her apartment, carding her fingers through Freddie's hair as he talked.

"And then she drove me to an abandoned parking lot and left me there!"

Carly stopped running her hands through Freddie's hair, and raised her eyebrows, "Really?"

"Yeah, isn't that-"

Carly cut him off, "Wait, but how did your mom not...?"

"She emptied a human-sized bag of hair into my bed and vaguely shaped it to mimic my body. Hair that she got from the lice clinic."

"Ugh," Carly shuddered, moving her hands and wiping them on the couch. "What on earth is a lice clinic?"

"I don't know, but apparently they can be bullied out of their hair. Unless she stole it... Anyway, so she leaves me in this parking lot and I have to hitchhike home, because she stole my phone, and replaced the battery with a snack-sized block of American cheese."

Carly sighed, and moved Freddie's head from out of her lap. "You're okay now, though, right?" she said brightly.

Freddie nodded, "Yeah, but still. It was... traumatic! I could have-"

"I know, I know. But you didn't! And you talk about her all the time, it's getting kind of..."

Freddie sat up suddenly, "I do not!" Carly raised an eyebrow. "Well... Not all the time! Just when she violates, insults and/or wrongs me!"

Carly bit her lip, "She always violates, insults and/or wrongs you! That's her thing!"

"Well, what do you want me to say?"

"I don't know, maybe 'Hey, Carly! I'm tired of sitting on your couch and ranting about Sam, why don't we go to a movie!' Or possibly, 'Oh, Carly, I'm so glad we're finally together, let's not waste every precious moment talking about the terrible things that Sam has done to me!'"

Freddie grinned guiltily, "I'm sorry, how about this," he leaned over, scooting closer to her. "Hey, Carly," he said, his face an inch away from hers, "How about we go and get a smoothie, I'm sure you're tired of hearing your boyfriend yammer on about his... problems."

Carly laughed and leaned in and closed the last inch of space between them. "A smoothie sounds great." she said, resting her forehead on his.

Just before they got up to go to the Groovy Smoothie, there was a loud crash, and Freddie jumped up from his seat, yelling. Carly sighed, getting up, and running to catch Sam by the hair before she could escape. She yanked Sam's head down, and pulled her over to the couch, glaring at her. "Sam! What did you just put down Freddie's shirt?"

"Nothing!" Sam said defensively. "Just a couple of egg yolks!" Carly raised an eyebrow. "And a some raw bacon..." Carly put her hand on her hip. "Okay, and a couple of sardines. And a live newt. But that's it!"

Freddie squeaked, and ripped off his shirt to reveal a hideous slimy stream, sliding past two slices of raw bacon, run down his back. "Oh God," Carly said. "Sam, what is _wrong_ with you?"

Sam shrugged, "I got a lotta boredom, and a lotta hate, and a creative mind. It's not a great mix."

Freddie narrowed his eyes at Sam, and stormed past her, marching back to his own apartment. After he slammed the door, Carly looked at Sam, a frown on her face. "Why do you have to be like that, Sam?"

Sam arched an eyebrow, and patted the spot next to her on the couch. "If you'd just break up with him, I wouldn't have to do anything."

Carly smacked Sam on the arm, before leaning in and kissing her on the cheek, then taking her chin in her hands and kissing Sam on the lips. "I know you're good, Sam, I just don't understand why you have to be so crazy about it. You're the one who didn't want to go public in the first place."

Sam pouted, and leaned in for another kiss, "Well, that didn't mean you had to go start seeing Freddie!"

Carly rolled her eyes, "He's just to ward off the suspicion, you know that!" She leaned back and surveyed the growing puddle of goo on her living room floor. "You're lucky you're cute, Puckett. I'm gonna see if Spence still has those Shampow things."

Sam nodded, and reached down to pick the tiny newt out of the puddle, where it was possibly drowning. Her phone buzzed as she was carrying it to the kitchen, and she dropped the newt into a glass bowl before checking the screen.

_Excellent work, but don't you think the newt was going a little far? xF._

Sam grinned, and punched a message back to Freddie. _babe, you know me. it's all out or nothing at all. meet me on the fire escape in 30?xxxS._

Sam snapped her phone shut just as Carly came up behind her with a handful of cloths. "Who was that?  
she asked.

"Oh, nobody," Sam said airily, before winding her arm around Carly's waist and kissing her.

_i didn't think this would  
or could ever happen to me at all _

{a/n: oh my, look at sam being all deceptive and double agent-y! who does she really want? the choice is yours! i based this on the song i lied about everything, by the secret handshake.}


	3. Wicked Blood

**-wicked blood-sam/freddie-futurefic-t for kissing-**

_and under the church-light, you stand there, with your wicked blood and your curls _

As a rule, Freddie always made a wish when he crossed railroad tracks. He wasn't quite sure why, he didn't really feel that there was anything especially magical about trains or their rusty metal tracks. Maybe it was more in the way that he felt sitting in a car and bumping ever so slightly, a tiny disturbance in his long flat universe. Maybe in those few seconds of turbulence something could change, a tiny rip in the universe could form, and his life could continue on a completely new path.

In fact, that was what he wished for, more often than not. A change, a new direction, something that would make him different, not the same Freddie that a certain blonde friend of his liked to treat like dirt. As he drove that day, bumping over the tracks with his front wheels, then his back ones, he made a decision. Making a vaguely illegal U-turn, Freddie headed back over the tracks and down the quickly darkening road. He pulled into an old parking lot, that once served as a spot for faithful churchgoers to park on Sundays. Now it led up to a small, cavernous building made of crumbling brick, topped by a rusting copper cross.

Freddie knew that Sam was here. The church itself had been long abandoned, but Sam had once told him how the tiny graveyard behind it fascinated her. Well, the words she had used were "creepy and gross, you can practically feel the zombies trying to claw out of the dirt," but he assumed that that was the reason she liked it so much. Freddie knew that she came out to the church to work, it was only a few blocks from her apartment, and despite her dismissive attitude toward school, he knew that as the years passed she was quietly pulling up her socks and working hard, presumably toward a scholarship. He didn't know much about the Puckett's financial situation, but he assumed, especially with Melanie away at boarding school, that there was not a lot of extra money floating around. Freddie took a long look over the parking lot, before swinging his car door open and stepping out.

He saw Sam perched on the crumbling church stairs, eyebrows bunched and tongue poking out as she bent over her laptop, typing furiously. He approached quietly, standing maybe five feet in front of her, waiting for her to look up. After a few seconds, she paused her typing and looked up, jumping at the sight of him. "Christ, Freddie! Sneaking up on me in a haunted graveyard, do you want to be Ghostbusted?"

Freddie laughed, and sat down carefully on the cracked stone steps. "I thought you might have heard my car. And somehow I think I could survive whatever phanta-plasmic gamma ray that you have in your pocket."

Sam raised an eyebrow, "Phanta-what? I was planning on beaning you with a vacuum cleaner, nerd. Which I'm sure you could survive, I've heard physical therapy can do wonders."

Freddie rolled his eyes. He had sort of come to enjoy their little fights. They'd lost the venom and frustration that they had for each other when they were thirteen, and now, in their final year of high school, the banter had become more of a form of entertainment. "What are you up to?"

Sam leaned back, and tilted the screen toward Freddie, "It's my story thing for Creative Writing."

"Wicked Blood?" Freddie read, "What's it about?"

"Well, J'Mamaw used to say that about me, that I had wicked blood. She'd always say that if I had been born when she was young, I would have been taken to the doctor and dumped in a bucket of leeches." Sam grinned, "So that, the leeches gave me this idea; what if the things that made people bad was all in their blood?"

Freddie nodded, "They could just suck it out, then?"

"Mhm!" Sam grinned, "Basically my story is about people living in a world that's perfect, until some people find these huge stores of Wicked Blood, which is the blood drawn from all the bad people in the world. It acts like drugs when you take some in small amounts, but it turns you evil if you use it often. And so everything seems perfect, but there's this big underground world of crime and terror, and eventually those people want everyone to start taking Wicked Blood, so they start a war!"

Freddie was astounded, "Wow, Sam. So you're writing a story of a revolutionary war between utopian and dystopian societies? That's amazing!"

Sam shook her head, "Yeah, Fredley, what you said. As long as what you said involves crossbows and flaming chainsaws, cause there are going to be a lot of those."

Freddie laughed under his breath and leaned back, resting his elbows behind him. He looked up at the sky; the sun was just minutes from setting, and it was casting deep purple light all across the sky. He heard a click as Sam closed her laptop and leaned back beside him, sighing deeply. "So, would you do it?" Freddie asked, glancing over at Sam.

"What?"she said, tilting her head , bumping his lightly.

"Suck out all the bad, if you could. Make it so you had no more wicked blood."

"Maybe," Sam said, her voice sounding almost sad. "I think I'd be more like Carly that way."

Freddie was silent, and he chewed on the inside of his lip for a minute, watching the sky darken shade by inky shade. "You'd want that?"

Sam twisted up her mouth, and dropped her head to Freddie's shoulder. This, Freddie had noticed, this gentler side of Sam had been coming out more, usually surfacing in tiny bits at the edges of twilight and dawn, when they'd all sit in the studio until the wee hours of the morning and talk about the future. It was times like these when Freddie would find Sam making tiny reaches for him, resting her fingers on his outstretched palms or sliding her legs under his. "Maybe," she said, quietly.

Freddie took Sam's hand in his, and absently pressed their palms together. "I wouldn't want that," he said, putting gentle pressure on her hand.

Sam pushed back, and for a minute they held steady. "Oh yeah? Need your daily dose of masochism, do you?"

Freddie watched their hands, noting how small hers was, how she kept her nails sort of long, and how despite the fact that they were speckled with green and orange paint, and still toting faded x's from the Cuddlefish concert she'd been to on the weekend, her hands were sort of pretty. "I guess so," he said, as their hands shifted. In a second they'd gone from pressing hands to holding them, fingers interlocked. A beat passed, and when Sam didn't let go, Freddie held his breath for one second, two.

Sure enough, Sam lifted her head and slowly turned to Freddie."You know, I could help you with that," she said. Freddie let out a short breath and grinned, quickly flashing back in his mind. _Well... lean! _He leaned in and kissed Sam, hoping he hadn't misinterpreted what she'd said. After one agonizing second, he could feel the corners of her lips quirk up as she kissed him back, moving her hand to rest on his cheek. It wasn't long before he was licking at her bottom lip, and she was opening her mouth, and he was gripping her hand to stop his stomach from dropping. Finally, they pulled back for air, and Freddie was amazed to find that it was completely dark, save for the glittering stars and the white light of the moon.

_there's an ember in the rafters and it's gonna bring this whole thing down_

{a/n: this is my favourite of the three i've written so far. it's based on the song wicked blood, by sea wolf. if you don't know that song, message me, or leave your e-mail in the review and i'll send you a mix of the songs i used, and am planning to use if i continue this series. which was your favourite? thanks for your input, and special thanks for **CreddieShipper, iLove iCarly, sockstar, Drag0nL0rd, Eeveelution-Fangirl, and KeyLimePie 14** for my first ever reviews. you guys are sweethearts 3}


	4. The Future Freaks Me Out

**the future freaks me out-spencer/freddie (platonic)-sam/freddie-k- **

_betty it's so hard to relate/to the whole human race/i don't know where to begin_

The day after the Girl's Choice dance, Freddie found himself knocking on Carly's door. Spencer answered the door, wearing a short robe and a shower cap.

"Freddo! Carly's just out right now, but if you-"

"I know," Freddie sighed, and pushed past Spencer to sit on the couch. "I need someone to talk to."

"Ooh," Spencer said, "Listen, kid. If this is about last night, I'm not sure that you're _entirely_ off the Friend Train yet, but your stop is definitely coming up! She said-"

"No, Spencer, no. It's not about..." Freddie bit his lip, not knowing quite where to start, "I brought her bacon, for God's sake! I had to go out in secret and buy it, cause my mom doesn't like frying meat, and I had to wait 'til my mom left for work before cooking it. I cooked her contraband bacon, with all the windows open so my mom wouldn't smell it, _and _I almost burned himself 'cause bacon is tricky, dammit!"

Spencer looked confused for a second, before his brow cleared, and he opened his mouth, "Is this about... Sam?"

Freddie shrugged, then nodded. "She just took it, just like she takes everything, like she took my first kiss and my dreams of Carly every loving me..."

Spencer nodded sagely, "But wasn't there- "

"There _was_ the whole 'hot, handsome hunkaboy' thing... which was a joke, but still. The kind of joke I could get used to, for sure." Freddie cracked a smile. "I don't even know what I'm talking about, it's just..."

"Girls," Spencer said, "They are a mystery."

"I know! I just don't know what she was so scared of; I have to risk severe emotional and physical trauma to get to her, but if she wanted me, all she would have to do is ask. Which she didn't. And, sure she had the whole thing with Gibby, but could she not have saved me from Malika? Magic freakin' Malika? It's not like I could have counted on Carly for an out – she was too wrapped up in her little contest-"

"With The Interrupter, no less!" Spencer interrupted.

"But even if she wasn't, I guess I would have said no..."

Spencer looked confused again, "No to Carly?"

Freddie nodded, "It'd feel weird, like I was forcing her. I mean, you know what happens to guys who don't listen when a girl says no."

"But Sam's said no, hasn't she?"

Freddie raised an eyebrow, and nodded, cracking another smile. "Oh, I know. But she says no to the world at large, which is why she should come to me."

Spencer looked at Freddie hard, before opening his mouth to speak again. "Freddie, I'm going to tell you something, that you can never, ever repeat. No matter what situation you're in, even if your life is at stake."

Freddie nodded. "Okay, deal."

Spencer furrowed his brow. "Even if you have a gun to your head, _you cannot tell._"

"Oookay, Spencer," Freddie said, laughing nervously, "I promise I won't tell."

"Ever?"

"Ever."

"Okay," Spencer sighed, "Samantha Puckett is afraid of the dark."

Freddie raised his eyebrows. "Really?"

Spencer held up a hand, "That's not the part! Samantha Puckett is afraid of the dark, because she's afraid of the unknown, and she doesn't know what's going on when she's in the dark. Before she saw you and Carly dancing, she knew that Carly would never love you. And in Sam's mind, as long as Carly didn't love you, she still had a chance. After she saw you two, she was left 'in the dark'," Spencer punctuated with air quotes, "And now, she doesn't know what to think at all."

Freddie's mouth dropped open. "She saw us? She's afraid- She- I- A chance?"

Spencer nodded, "Stutter it out, Freddo."

"We were just, Carly and I, we were just dancing! It was an awful night, and Sam wasn't even there, and- I- She _wants_ a chance with me?"

"Well, _wanted, _actually, last time I checked," said Spencer, shrugging.

"She doesn't need a _chance_! She _has_ me, I'm here, I made her a bag of bacon!"

Spencer laughed, "And you're telling me this? I think you have a blonde-headed demon to track down!"

Freddie nodded, and headed toward the door before doubling back and hugging Spencer around the middle. "Thanks man, you're kind of the best."

And with that, he tore out of the apartment, leaving a mildly bewildered Spencer to adjust his shower cap and finish shaving his toes.

_if we can both find a way/to do the things that we say/we might not sit in our rooms/and drink our daydreams away _

{a/n: yay for fencer friendship! I saw iSpeed Date, and I'm a general couple shipper, and I was so happy for the creddie dance, but then Sam came in, and my heart broke a little. So I added it to my little challenge, which, by the way, is failing a little, cause my computer sucks. Anyway, leave a review and tell me what you think about Sam being afraid of the dark. I could see it happening. Oh, and **sockstar**, I agree with the OT3 solution. It is a good solution.}


	5. Breakable

**A/N: It's a little shorter than I had originally planned, and a little more angsty. It starts fairly in medias res. For some background information, Carly has noticed that Freddie's started bringing up him loving her again, seemingly out of nowhere. She's also noticed that Sam is being unnaturally silent and weird about the whole situation. Carly is confused as heck, cause she knows something is terribly wrong, and calls Sam to come for a sleepover, and then goes to talk to Freddie.**

"Freddie, come out." Carly knocked hard on Freddie's door, calling out to him from the hall. She heard shuffling from behind the door, and Freddie swung the door open.

"What?" he said.

Suddenly nervous, Carly licked her lips and shifted from one foot to another. "Why..." she trailed off, losing steam. Clearing her throat, she started again. "Why do you say that you love me?"

Freddie was silent for a long second before furrowing his brow and sighing. "Come with me," he said, checking his pockets for car keys.

Carly's stomach dropped a little as she followed her friend down the hall. He was tense, she could see his shoulders stiff and hunched; she wanted to reach over and rub out the knots and tell him that everything would be alright. They walked in silence until they got to the underground parking garage, and slid into Freddie's silver sedan. Finally, after starting up the car and driving out into the tremendous storm, Freddie spoke. "Did you get your seatbelt?"

Carly reached back and snapped the belt over her body, "It's the law," she said quietly.

Freddie smiled, and they drove in silence for a few minutes before Freddie took in a deep breath. "You're so _beautiful_, Carly." he said. "And you're sweet, but only to people who deserve it, and you're funny and weird, and brave and everything that I _should_ love." He bit the inside of his cheek, "Everything that I want to love."

Carly chose her next words carefully, "But you don't, do you." she said quietly.

Freddie swallowed, "You're perfect," he said hoarsely, "And... and I know that when you say no to me, It's because _I'm_ not perfect yet, for you, and so all I have to do is change a little, and then try again. You're here, you're always here for me."

"But, Freddie, you don't deserve that, to have to change for a girl! The perfect girl will just love you the way you are, and-"

"You would never leave me on my own," Freddie interrupted her, speaking in a low, even voice. "You would let me in, and you would talk to me, and you would _listen_ when I told you how gorgeous you are. You're not going to walk away from me. You're not going to break my heart."

Carly looked over at Freddie, and instantly the pieces fell into place in her head. "Pull over, Freddie." Freddie signaled left and pulled into a parking lot for a long abandoned gas station. "It's Sam."

Freddie hunched over, leaning his head on the steering wheel. Gently, Carly reached over and stroked the back of his head. When he looked up, he looked simultaneously nauseous and relieved. Carly's heart broke a little, then; she'd never seen Freddie look so torn. Instinctively, she leaned across the center console and pulled Freddie in for a tight hug. She held on until she felt him relax, and then let go. "Have you tried talking to her?"

Freddie looked down, "I've... hinted. It's not as easy as it seems, she's just-" He made an obscure hand gesture, and Carly smiled faintly.

"I know. The thing is, Sam's not the same as other girls. She knows that you're hinting, she just... can't do anything about it. Partially because you keep saying you love me, and also... She's scared. She knows what people say about her, I mean, she didn't believe that _Jonah_ wanted to date her, and you're cuter and much less obnoxious than him."

Freddie smiled a tiny bit. "You really think so?"

"Yep!" Carly nodded, "And I can say it now that I know you don't really love me."

Freddie smiled wider. "Thanks. So... I should just-"

Carly's phone buzzed then, and she looked at the screen to see a message from Sam. _I'm here. can't get in the lobby, Lewbert is passed out or something._

"Let's go back," Carly said, typing a quick response, "Sam's at the building, and you really need to talk to her." Freddie nodded, and started the car up again, speeding back to the apartment building.

Freddie and Carly pulled up to the Bushwell Plaza, and the headlights flashed across the large awning, momentarily illuminating Sam's form, huddled against the wind. Freddie braked the car, and looked forward, just as Sam was looking up and squinting to see the car through the dark and the rain that fell down in sheets.

"I'll park the car if you want to..." Carly trailed off, watching as Sam stepped out from under the awning, slowly walking into the storm.

Freddie nodded, "Thank you," he said quietly, clutching the door handle with white knuckles, not taking his eyes off of Sam.

Carly looked out at Sam, who was walking woodenly toward the car, a stricken look on her face. Freddie's expression mirrored Sam's, and Carly couldn't help but smile. "Go," she whispered.

And that word set Freddie off like a fuse; he was out of the car without even bothering to pull on his rain jacket, and he'd crossed the remaining distance between him and Sam in a matter of seconds. Carly was amazed at the way Freddie held Sam close like it was the most natural thing in the world, hugging her tight for a few moments before pulling back the slightest bit and leaning so his forehead was on hers. She saw them speak with their faces inches apart, and she saw Freddie wrap a protective arm around Sam's waist as her shoulders started to shake. He ran a hand through her soaking wet hair and rested it on the back of her neck, as she leaned into his chest, grabbing fistfuls of his shirt as he rubbed circles into her back. And then, suddenly, they were kissing.

Carly's eyes widened, and she watched for a second, before her chest tightened at the intimacy of the moment. She slid into the driver's seat and gently eased the car out to the parking lot, leaving her friends in the rain. She felt a mixture of happy, relieved and sad; the feeling you'd get, she supposed, when you lost two old friends, and gained two new ones.


End file.
